Metro Digest

Local News in Brief : Picus Returns Donations

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, co-author of a law that limited campaign contributions to council members to $500 per donor, said Thursday that she has returned $3,000 that she received from six employees of a development firm.

She said, however, that she will keep two $500 checks that she received from the two partners in the company, which is building a multimillion-dollar housing project in her West San Fernando Valley district.

The city attorney's office will be looking into the matter "to determine if further action is required," a spokesman for the office said.

Picus' comments came one day after a report in the Daily News that she accepted $500 each from eight employees of G. H. Palmer and Associates of Brentwood. A 1985 voter-approved law limits contributions to City Council candidates to $500 per source.

However, it is not uncommon or illegal for several employees of the same company to each contribute $500, said Assistant City Atty. Shelley Rosenfield.

Picus said that she returned the $3,000 in contributions because of "the appearance of a possible attempt to skirt city law."